Marvel stopped publishing original X-Men stories for five years in the 1970s due to poor sales.

The original X-Men series, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963, struggled to gain traction compared to hits like Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. By 1970, sales had declined so sharply that Marvel discontinued original content with issue #66. For the next five years, issues #67 through #93 consisted entirely of reprinted material from earlier years.This hiatus ended in May 1975 with the release of Giant-Size X-Men #1, written by Len Wein and illustrated by Dave Cockrum. This landmark issue introduced a diverse, international roster including Wolverine from Canada, Storm from Kenya, Nightcrawler from Germany, and Colossus from the Soviet Union. This strategic shift was designed to appeal to a global audience and revitalize the struggling franchise.Following the success of the Giant-Size special, Chris Claremont became the primary writer starting with issue #94. His 16-year tenure transformed the series into a complex, serialized narrative that eventually became Marvel's top-selling franchise by the 1980s. This era is now known as the Bronze Age of comics, and it rescued the X-Men from permanent cancellation and obscurity.